Horse Racing roundup

By Nick Kling

Monday, February 11, 2013

Rick Violette is a Thoroughbred trainer based in New York. As a horseman, he is one of the best. Racing fans know when they back a Violette-trained animal they are very likely to get a competitive effort.

However, it is as President of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA) that Violette is likely to have his most lasting impact on the sport. He is an articulate, effective advocate for NYTHA's agenda.

Recently there have been suggestions racing on the Aqueduct inner track has become a bad thing. Some believe it is an anachronism in this era of nationwide simulcasting, which allows fans and bettors to watch and wager on the game from almost all major Thoroughbred tracks in North America.

Why, they ask, should we continue with a substandard product when better racing is available from Florida, Louisiana, and Southern California? In addition, the injury rate on the inner track has been higher than normal the last two years. Is it in the best interests of the equine athletes to slog on?

In the Winter, 2013 edition of the organization's newsletter Violette answered some questions, making a compelling case for winter racing. He came out swinging on the notion of whether it was hurting the sport.

"Nothing could be further from the truth. If winter racing is eliminated in New York, it will cripple the Thoroughbred industry in the state," said Violette.

He went on to make several specific points.

1) "Thousands of jobs (are) supported by the (racing) industry. If winter racing is shut down for even a month or two, the barn areas at Aqueduct and Belmont Park would empty out, and we could lose 3,000 to 5,000 jobs in the blink of an eye."

2) "The New York breeding industry would also take a huge hit. (B)reeding stock already here could be shipped to states with more advantageous programs, taking thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue with them."

3) "Aqueduct is a money maker for the New York Racing Association. (Winter) racing...still generates significant handle. Revenue is up, the profit margin has grown - winter racing has a positive impact on NYRA's (New York Racing Association) bottom line."

4) "Winter racing also supports purses throughout the year. The revenue from the handle at Aqueduct outpaces the level of purses distributed in the winter...enabling NYRA to offer bigger purses during the Belmont spring and fall meets, and at Saratoga."

Veteran New York fans remember when winter racing was an excellent product, the cards populated by interesting allowance races and high-priced claiming events filled with fast horses.

Violette went on to tacitly acknowledge the quality of racing at Aqueduct has been diminished in recent years. He concluded his remarks by saying, "There is no question that our energies and our resources must be used to improve both the racing product and the racing experience...efforts must be directed at making improvements not only at Saratoga in August, but at Aqueduct in January as well."

The bottom line is this. It is easy for critics with a narrow agenda to look at Aqueduct inner track racing and suggest it should stop. However, as Rick Violette accurately describes, an end to winter racing would be short-sighted and a detriment to New York's Thoroughbred industry.

A recent letter to the editor of Daily Racing Form (DRF) suggests one of the causes for the decline of New York racing and offers a solution. Anthony Perrotta, Jr. wrote the root of the problem might be, "NYRA's policy to ignore traditional stall limits."

He refers to what had been a tradition of long-standing at many Thoroughbred venues. The racing office assigns stall space to horsemen who want to stable on racetrack grounds. It was normal practice to limit how many horses an individual trainer or stable could maintain.

There were more horses than stalls available. Hence, like roster limits in other sports, there was a maximum. Small stables might ask for 12 stalls and get 10. Big outfits with many animals would be held to 40-50, depending on the factors involved.

Too many horses is no longer an issue. Rather, it is too few. A racing secretary trying to maintain field size is loath tell large stables they won't be able to house all their animals on-track. In certain cases NYRA has required they keep some at other facilities such as Saratoga's Oklahoma training track when racing is downstate.

This leads to what Perrotta sees as the problem. "Trainers now monopolize talent and creatively keep their stock away from one another through deft navigation of condition books. This create(s) an imbalance on the backside, making it difficult for racing secretaries to fill races and for small stables to earn critical purses."

Some critics of the current system have even suggested a more radical change. Comments on racing forums recommend that the racing office write conditions which exclude certain trainers, or at least stables whose horses have made more than a specified number of starts at the on-going race meet.

That is not going to happen. For starters it would take months, if not years, for any legal challenges to make it through the courts. Large stables and wealthy owners have resources and would never accept such a plan.

Perrotta has the better idea. Managing stall space is within a track's prerogative. The issue is how to keep the entry box full. It deserves some thought.